Monday, December 29, 2014

Gifts of Love

Christmas this year included some very special gifts, from our nephews and one of my Aunts. Top left are candle holders made by our oldest nephew; they are Ball Mason jars with colored tissue paper decopaged to the outside. Inside were the most delicious cookies, baked by my brother, the Master Cookie Chef! Top left is an embroidered stitchery depiciting myself, Larry, and one of our cats, created by our middle nephew. Lower right is a birdhouse, made by our youngest nephew, and lower left is a lovely glass ornament with my Mother's picture, given by my Aunt.

Ivy Rose and Ginger Kate are flanking the favorite gift I ever received as a child...this sweet stuffed tiger. I was eight or nine, I think, when I found him in my stocking on Christmas morning. And nestled between them is the 2014 White House Ornament, a tradition my Mom and Dad began several years ago. Our Christmas tree is now heavy with them.

Ginger Kate has joined my sweet family of knit Waldorf dolls. We want to share her rompers pattern with you!

I am going to call these dolls Cottage Flowers, as that is what they make me think of. Knitting a doll, and thinking of flowers, in the middle of Winter is a happy pasttime. I hope all of you are having a happy day :-)

Hi Beth! Sorry to be a pain but I have a problem with the legs I put the legs on the two needles as in the instructions and have come to a complete stop as I cant work out how to knit them together as it doesn't seem to work out for me. I must be doing something wrong I hope that you understand what I am getting at! Also thank you for the info on where to get the stockinette I was able to order it on Ebay.Warmly Typs!

When you place the legs on two needles, you will want the two bound off stitches, which make the crotch, to be between needles. So, for each leg, on needle 1 you place eight stitches, on needle 2 you place eight stitches, then the two bound off stitches are between needle 2 and needle 1. On the first leg, your yarn tail will be hanging in the middle of needle 2.

You will need to move stitches on the needles to achieve this. Slip them purlwise until you get the stitches on the needles as described above.

On the second leg, your bound off stitches are at the end of the leg, Again, you will need to slip the stitches to achieve eight stitches on needle 1, eight stitches on needle 2, and the two bound off stitches in between. When I bind off the last two stitches on the second leg, I ended up with a stitch on the needle that needs to be moved over to the first needle.

I hope some of this makes sense. You just have to move your stitches around until, for both legs, you have eight stitches on needle 1, eight stitches on needle 2, and the bound off stitches between needle 2 and needle 1. They don't line up like this automatically, and it is necessary to move the stitches around to keep both feet pointing in the same direction!

You begin knitting the torso with the yarn that is still attached to the second leg.

I hope this is helpful. If not, let me know and we will have another go at it!

Beth, I'd love to include your blog and talk about your patterns in an article I'm working on for junior collectors in Doll News. When you have a moment, could you email me? I wasn't sure how to find you on the Bleuette Sewing Club site now that Yahoo changed the format, so I hope this is a good way to get in touch with you! Thank you so much, Nicki Burley (nicki.burley814@gmail.com)

About Me

Welcome! My name is Beth and I live in the Midwest of the United States. I was 12 years old when Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the moon. I would have been an astronaut, but my fear of heights has kept me grounded :-) Instead, I became a Mechanical Engineer and worked in industry for many years. Now I design and make soft dolls; a passion I've enjoyed since my Grandmother first taught me to crochet.